Duality

“So... What the fuck?” Stella asks Cassie and Tanya, in relation to the bombshell that the two of them apparently made out with each other last night.

“We were drunk. It’s no big deal.” Tanya tries to nonchalantly brush off the gravity of what she and Cassie did last night.

“Brooke and Viv made it sound like a big deal.” Stella retorts.

“That’s because they were the ones that goaded us to kiss each other.” Cassie explains.

“Details! Come on. If it’s really no big deal then you shouldn’t have reacted the way that you did.” Stella points out.

“We reacted that way because we were embarrassed, Stella. It’s not like we make out with other women all the time.” Tanya explains, although she shows some doubt by asking Cassie, “Right?”.

“Oh, yes! Definitely.” Cassie assures her. “What kind of details do you want anyway? You want us to describe the amount of tongue involved?” Cassie asks sarcastically, but Stella just answers with a resounding, “YES!”, making Cassie roll her eyes.

“Fine, I’d settle for the story behind it then. Why’d you guys make out?” Stella compromises.

“Other than being drunk and horny?” Cassie asks, making Stella answer with another annoyed “YES!”. “They wanted us to show them how good of a kisser Jay is by doing it on each other, and like horny drunk idiots, we did.” Cassie adds on.

“No way that’s the only reason you did it. That’s so anticlimactic.” Stella says with a sigh.

“From what I remember, Brooke and Viv were relentless. So, anti-climax aside, I bet you would’ve made out with Tanya too if you were me.” Cassie adds.

“Oh please, I was drunk last night too and I didn’t make ow~… nevermind.” Stella tries to tease but after she sees Cassie raise an eyebrow and slowly put a mischievous smile as her reaction, she remembers she’s in no place to judge after what she did last night with you.

“Something, something, glass houses, sweetie.” Tanya tells Stella before she takes another sip of her pho and gives Cassie a wink.

“Speaking of Stella being drunk last night, I told you to talk to Stella, not sleep with her Jay. It’s bad form to sleep with a drunk girl.” Cassie teases you.

“Yeah, if we spread that on social media we can get that next book of yours cancelled.” Tanya tags in on the joke.

Before last night, you probably would’ve found it weird that they’d joke about cancelling you for sleeping with a drunk girl… and, you know, not for sleeping with your own daughter; but you’re slowly beginning to accept that that’s just how the world works now. Your train of thought is broken by your daughter who jumps in on the teasing.

“Yeah, Dad. Bad form. Taking advantage of a drunk girl.” Stella teases.

“Wait a minute, how is it bad form? You were practically begging for it!” You defend yourself, which results in an “Ooooh~” from all three of the girls.

“How was she begging for it Jay?” Tanya asks in a baiting tone.

“Was it because of the way I was dressed?” Stella asks with fake indignation.

“Was that how she was asking for it, papi?” Tanya continues to bait.

“Or was it because she was literally asking for it?” Cassie asks with a chuckle, before switiching to mocking Stella by repeating ‘FUCK ME DADDY’ in a fake moaning tone, causing you and Tanya to laugh at Stella’s expense.

“Cass!” Stella reacts, feeling betrayed by her best friend. It’s rare for you to see Cassie turn the tables on Stella so it makes you laugh even harder.

“Friendship ended with Stella. Now Tanya best friend.” Cassie jokes, in what you can only assume is a really bad Indian accent, crossing her index fingers together to form an ‘X’.

“More like ‘girlfriend’.” Stella retorts, before invading Cassie’s personal space with her kissy faces.

You hear them tease each other back and forth, but you tune it out as Tanya says under her breath next to you, “I forgot how young they were, until right now. Cassie was so mature last night.” You look back at Stella and Cassie just sticking their tongues out at each other, and you’re reminded they’ve been doing that since they were actual kids, so Tanya has a point. They do bring that out of each other sometimes. In their defense, despite their current behavior, they’ve grown so much in just a few years.

That’s your daughter that got you out of that rut you were in for months by taking care of you the first day she got back, and that's your girlfriend who has been nothing but encouraging and supportive and even talked one of your other potential girlfriends to be open about this weird dynamic.

Speaking of…

“Hey, about that, how’d your talk go last night?” you ask Tanya.

“It didn’t go far to be honest. As soon as Cassie told me that Stella might be in on this too, we decided to wait for today when all four of us are together.” Tanya explains.

“Not sure if it’s okay to ask, but, how’d she convince you to be okay with this?” you ask Tanya curious.

“Convince me? Papi, you convinced me. I was already convinced I wanted to be with you before Cassie and I even talked. I just needed to meet her to make sure she’s actually okay with all this. Plus, I needed to get to know her before I could say ‘yes’. From what you told me, I wasn’t just getting into a relationship with you; you were asking me to have one with her too.” Tanya replies.

“I was?” you ask in confusion.

“Get your head out of the gutter, papi. I didn’t mean sex or romance. I just meant, we need to be friends at least, for this to work out. I’ll just be putting you into a tough spot if I can't get along with her.” Tanya replies.

“Sorry. I get that. It’s just... you made out with her. I misunderstood and thought maybe, outside of being goaded by Brooke and Viv, you felt compelled to do that because of me.” you tell Tanya.

“We’re grown women, papi.” Tanya says, before looking at Cassie and Stella who are still arguing.

“I know you are but what am I?” Cassie retorts.

“Mehmehmehmeh-mehmehmehmeh” Stella mockingly copies Cassie’s cadence.

“Present behavior notwithstanding.” Tanya says with a chuckle.

“But we are grown women, and we can make our own decisions. Drunk or not, we wanted to make Brooke and Viv jealous with how good of a kisser you are.” Tanya tells you before giving you a sweet peck on the lips.

“Hey! No fair! House Rules!” Stella reacts to your kiss with Tanya. Tanya raises her eyebrow at Stella, not sure what she meant.

“Are we still doing that? I thought with you being able to be with your dad now, that’s over and done with.” Cassie says.

“I mean, for most of the other rules, yeah… but I can still get jealous.” Stella replies in her defense.

“You mean horny.” Cassie teases Stella.

“Ugh. Yes. Fine. It’s both.” Stella replies honestly, but with a tone of annoyance and defeat. “I’d rather just feel horny though. I don’t want to hold you guys back from doing what you want to do just to accommodate my sensitivity.” Stella sighs.

“Where are we on that by the way? Have you earned enough points— OW!” Stella began to ask before Cassie nudged her again in her ribs.

“Points?” Tanya asks.

“Oh my god! I was drunk all of last night and didn’t spill, and you did it unprompted.” Cassie scolds Stella, lightly slapping her in the arm as punishment.

“It’s fine Cassie. We had to have this conversation eventually.” You tell Cassie. “Tanya—”

“Do you believe in magic?”